DALLAS (Ticker) -- Rod Strickland finally showed he is more than
a jinx.

Given control of the offense in the fourth quarter, Strickland
led the Portland Trail Blazers to a 96-88 victory over the
upstart Dallas Mavericks, who had their six-game winning streak
snapped.

"It felt great to be out there and be on the winning side of
it," Strickland said. "I just hope we can continue to do that."

"He played excellent for us," Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy
said. "He did a good job of making some plays, had some good
reads and obviously, made some big shots."

A terrific offensive player, Strickland was waived by the
Washington Wizards late last month and signed by Portland, where
he spent four seasons earlier in his career. His acquisition
immediately raised questions about the allocation of playing
time, already an issue on the talented Trail Blazers.

Upon his arrival, Portland began a season-high five-game losing
streak. The 6-3 guard had little to do with the team's troubles
but appeared to be some sort of a bad luck charm as the Blazers
slid in the Western Conference standings.

"No, no," Strickland said. "Obviously, you don't feel good
about it. That's just how it is."

Monday's loss in San Antonio was Portland's sixth in seven games
and dropped it one-half game behind surging Dallas into sixth
place in the West. In his best game since his return, Strickland
made sure the Blazers reclaimed fifth place.

In 21 minutes, Strickland had 10 points and seven assists. He
played the entire fourth quarter and scored eight points,
including a pair of jumpers from the low post as he worked over
the smaller Steve Nash.

"I pretty much just tried to make something happen," Strickland
said. "I just had some opportunities to get to the basket."

"(That) definitely hurt us," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "They
posted Steve Nash up on two occasions. You heard us both times
tell it was good strategy on Mike's part."

Rasheed Wallace scored 18 points for the Blazers (44-24), who
had five players in double figures and held the Mavericks
without a basket for more than three minutes down the stretch.

"Obviously, at this point in time when you've lost five of your
last six games, the very next game is a very big win," Dunleavy
said. "Obviously they were ahead of us in the standings and now
they're behind us. It's big in that sense, but every game right
now, there's no easy games for any of these teams in the top
eight, nine or ten, looking at the playoff picture."

Michael Finley scored 24 points but was quiet in crunch time for
Dallas, which also had a six-game home winning streak snapped.

"We really didn't play that well," Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki
said. "We didn't make our shots and our running game wasn't
working. You have give Portland their props, they played good
defense on us."

Strickland made a mid-range jumper and layup early in the final
period, keeping the Blazers within striking distance. A layup
and dunk by Bonzi Wells and two free throws by Wallace gave
Portland a 79-76 lead before Nash made a 3-pointer to tie it
with 3:53 remaining.

Wells found Dale Davis for a dunk and Strickland went into the
low post against Nash, drawing an illegal defense technical foul
on Dallas. Steve Smith made the free throw and the Blazers went
right back to Strickland, whose turnaround jumper made it 84-79
with 2:40 to go.

After a shot-clock violation, Portland went back to Strickland
in the post. This time, he turned toward the basket and scored
over Nash for a seven-point bulge with 1:53 left. A drive by
Wells extended the lead to 88-80 with 48 seconds to play.

"Some of our smaller guys posted up well," Dunleavy said. "Rod
gave us some big baskets down the stretch. Obviously, all of
that was vital to us."

Scottie Pippen scored 16 points and Wells added 15 for Portland,
which shot 50 percent (38-of-76) from the field and held a 50-39
advantage on the boards. Davis pulled down 11 rebounds.

Juwan Howard had 20 points and 10 boards and Nowitzki added 15
and 13 for the Mavs, who shot just 39 percent (33-of-84),
including 6-of-22 from 3-point range. Nash had nine points and
nine assists.

"The bottom line to this game was that we didn't shoot well
enough or play well enough to win," Nelson said. "We just
didn't play well enough. We've been playing great but we didn't
play well tonight and they had a lot to do with that."

Finley scored 15 points in the first half, when the Mavs led by
as many as 12 points before settling for a 43-38 advantage.

In the third quarter, Pippen scored 14 points to get the Blazers
back in it. When Damon Stoudamire hit two free throws to give
Portland a 60-59 lead with 3:12 left, it marked the first time
Dallas trailed since one week ago against New Jersey.

"The third quarter gave me an opportunity to be a little bit
more aggressive," Pippen said. "I saw the game kind of pulling
away and it gave me an opportunity to step up and be a little
bit more aggressive. It worked out great for us."

"He was being aggressive, taking the ball to the rim," Dunleavy
said. "That's what we wanted. We wanted our guys to be
aggressive, we wanted them to finish and to follow in if the
shot blockers came to the penetration and be able to clean all
that up."